Varathane 347105 Charred Wood Accelerator, Quart, Black

This turns out so pretty! I brushed the stain on with a paint brush then wiped it down with a dry rag.

I ordered this product just to see what it would do. I needed to make new cedar like old cedar immediately because I'm on a timetable. It works perfect!! Took 30 minutes exactly and I put it out in the sun to help! You can see the brand new piece of cedar versus the other pieces which were bought at the same time!

I wanted a charred/ scorched look for a back drop trade show booth and this exceeded my expectations. I used beetle kill (blue stain) tongue and groove pine for the display. Reading a lot of the reviews and looking at the manufacturers photos for pine I was hesitant to purchase. But I figured an aged look wouldn’t be so bad. After the first coat I had something that resembled old barn wood. Very gray and brown oxidised looking. I had some uneven colorations so I went for a second coat and that’s when this magical product delivered exactly what I wanted. There’s a lot of gray and iridescent hues in different lighting just like scorched wood or charcoal has.I did zero sanding or prep on these panels and I’m sure the rough texture just adds to the character of the scorch. I highly recommend this product. My results were better than the sample photos.

Of all the stains ever used this is by far the best product I've come across. Too bad it doesn't come in gallon cans as I have 54, 2 x 10 rafters to stain. It stirs up quickly and you will need to get the copper colored agent off the bottom as most cans seem to have a long shelf life before purchase and subsequent settling. It soaks almost immediately into pine and dries so quickly that an 18 ft. rafter is dry at the beginning before you reach the other end. (disclaimer: this is at 9,200 ft. elevation and in the sunlight.) Great for me as I can top coat it with urethane after 15 minutes. How a water based agent can dry so quickly is amazing. Stain is for an "Aged Wood" look. Don't know exactly what constitutes aged wood but on pine it is a dark brown effect. It soaks in so fast you have to be quick on the draw with your brush to even out what you are laying down on the wood or else you will have a darker stain mark if left for even 10 seconds. Experimenting with using a roller vs. brush has pros and cons. A smooth surface roller is faster but leaves unstained areas with minor depressions in the wood surface. Using a thicker roller lays down too much stain and uneven darker/lighter areas and the fast drying makes it difficult to blend the dark to light areas. A brush is best as you can work in 2 ft. increments and keep a more consistent look to the stain by feathering the previous patch with the current.

I like the color just make sure you have a sealer. We didn’t seal in time thinking we’d be ok and in some parts the color washed away. Leaks everywhere so be careful what it’s being put on.

I am having custom cove trim made to use between the backsplash in my kitchen and the countertop. Currently we are deciding what kind of wood to use so I wanted to test some of the wood I have available to me. I used a scrap of lightly bug stained pine we are using for the baseboards. The piece is raw rough wood. I also wanted to use this as learning experience. This wood accelerator is very thin. I used a cheap brush, and this is the result of one coat. The instant the accelerator touched the wood it changed to the color you see and after 30 minutes it still looked the same. Due to the roughness of the wood, it pooled slightly in places and none touched other places. But my takeaway is this works great on new pine, be quick and use a quality brush. I also tried it on a very old plywood pullout shelf. I prepped the wood according to the instructions. I bleached and washed it. Allowed it to dry. After 2 coats there was almost no change in the wood so I am going to stain or paint those. This couldn't be easier to use. Cleanup is a snap, there is no odor to contend with and a little goes a long way. I like it.

Works great. Easy to apply.

This made a reddish-medium brown stain that came on a large windmill replica kit's wood pieces (the entire base is originally a light tan wood) turn a rather dark dull brown. Even though it darkens the wood it enhances natural streaks in the wood. Nice.It made a red-brown stain turn into what looks like naturally aged weathered wood. That was what I was hoping for.It's thin and doesn't smell bad and is easy to use.....is mostly cleaned-up off of your hands or whatever by water.On the down side I thought it had water-sealing covered too, and it does not.It came up in a word search on Amazon for "water sealant with stain." It shouldn't have.I now 'have' to re-do the entire structure with a proper water sealant (clear).